You
Good evening everyone welcome to steadfast baptist church looks like you've already all found your seats for the most part
But those who haven't if you could find your seats
I'd be great go ahead and grab a hymnal and we're gonna go ahead and start in song number 40
This is definitely a newer one for our church
So if you've heard it before I want you to sing out nice and loud
Song number 40 no disappointment in heaven
Song four zero
On the first
Here is sorrow or pain
No larks that are bleeding and broken
No song with a minor refrain
The clouds of earthly horizon will never appear in the sky
For all be sunshine and gladness with never a song of a sigh
I'm bound for that beautiful
See my lord is prepared for his own
Where all the redeemed of all ages sing glory around the white throne
Sometimes I grow homesick
In the glories I there shall be hope
What a joy that will be when my savior I see
in that beautiful
City
Song number 40 on the second
We'll never be hungry or thirsty nor anguishing
For all the rich bounties of heaven his sanctified children will share
I'm bound for that beautiful city
My lord is prepared for his own
Where all the redeemed of all ages sing glory around the white throne
Sometimes I grow homesick for heaven
And the glories I there shall be hope
What a joy that will be when my savior I see
In that beautiful city of gold
They'll never betray him on the doorknob
No full world train in the sky
No graves on the hillsides of glory
For there we shall never more die
The old will be young there forever
Transformed in a moment of time
Immortals stand in his likeness
The stars in the sun too have shined
I'm bound for that beautiful city
My lord is prepared for his own
Where all the redeemed of all ages
Sing glory around the white throne
Sometimes I grow homesick for heaven
And the glories I there shall be hope
What a joy that will be when my savior I see
In that beautiful city of gold
Great singing everybody. Let's go ahead and bow our heads for a word of prayer.
Heavenly Father, Lord, we thank you for this church. We thank you for Pastor Shelley and his family.
We thank you for everyone that's gathered here today.
We ask that you fill Pastor Shelley with your Holy Spirit, help him to preach an edifying sermon
so we can walk out better Christians and better serve you, Lord. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Alright, next up we have song number 11. He died for me.
Song 11, song 1-1. He died for me.
On the first.
I saw what hanging on a tree
In agony and blood
He fixed his languid eyes on me
As near his cross I stood
O can it be upon a tree
A save or die for me
My soul is thrilled, my heart is filled
To think he died for me
Sure never till my latest breath
Can I forget that look
It seemed to charge me with his death
Though not a word he spoke
O can it be upon a tree
A save or die for me
My soul is thrilled, my heart is filled
To think he died for me
My conscience built and owed the guilt
And bludged me in despair
I saw my sins, his blood had spilt
And helped to nail him there
O can it be upon a tree
A save or die for me
My soul is thrilled, my heart is filled
To think he died for me
Alas I knew not what I did
But now my tears are vain
Where shall my trembling soul be hid
For I the Lord have slain
O can it be upon a tree
A save or die for me
My soul is thrilled, my heart is filled
To think he died for me
A second look he gave me
I freely all forgive
This blood is for thy ransom pain
I died and now may slip
O can it be upon a tree
A save or die for me
My soul is thrilled, my heart is filled
To think he died for me
Good evening. Thank you for coming to Steadfast Baptist Church.
If you need a bulletin, you can lift your hand nice and high.
One of our ushers can come by and get you guys a bulletin.
On the front we have the Bible memory passage, Jonah chapter 2 verse 6.
And we're doing the book of Ecclesiastes, so we'll be in chapter number 9 this evening.
I was in Oklahoma City this past Sunday
and so thank you very much for brother Joe and brother Ben who preached for us
and everything went really well
and so brother Oz is doing a good job up there
and the church is doing really well
and so really continue to pray for them
and we're excited what the future holds for that church.
Our service and so many times there
also our church stats.
Also on the right is our expecting ladies list, continue to pray for them.
We have our prayer list down below.
We'll go over that in just a second.
We have our upcoming events.
We'll go over that this Sunday
and if you are planning on bringing stuff in the morning
we should have our back gate kind of open
so you can come and sneak in and put stuff out there in the back.
If you have questions, ask Ms. Naeem about that.
Also the 31st is our Texas Philly cook-off.
November 16th is our Miami soul-winning marathon.
Prayer list, we continue to pray for the Naeem's grandmother
for her vision, health and salvation.
We're praying for the Carlson's mother, Ms. Rebecca's health.
Praying for the Miller's friends, mom's cancer treatment.
Brother Scott, his parents' health.
We've been praying for the Garcia's daughter, Krista, who's pregnant.
We've been praying for Brother Foley, for his fiancé.
We've been praying for Brother Stewart, his sister-in-law, Ms. Tammy.
Also continue to pray for the Illes' family's health
and then also Brother Foley had another prayer request
for his co-workers' infant health.
So we'll just say a quick word of prayer as a church family now.
Thank you Heavenly Father so much for this church
and our opportunity to be here.
I pray that you would just bless all these expecting ladies.
Please be with them. Please help their children's development.
I pray that you would just bless our church family
that's struggling with sickness, illness, with cancer,
with these horrible things that are happening to them.
I pray that you would just give them grace.
Please just give them patience and deliverance.
Please, if possible, just give them full recovery.
I pray that you would also just bless our church family
that needs favor, that needs a blessing for their job
or for their relationships.
I pray that you would also help us to reach those family members
that we care about getting saved,
that you would fill us with your Holy Spirit
and that we could get them saved.
In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.
That's pretty much all on the back.
We have the congratulations to Brother Suheil
and Ms. Lori May on the birth of Lorraine Lamadora.
She was born on the 9th at 1.53 a.m.,
6 pounds, 9 ounces, 20 inches long.
Congratulations to them.
And that's all I have for announcements.
We're going to sing Psalm 139
in our special handout, Psalm 139.
All right, Psalm 139.
Sing it out nice and loud.
Surely thou wouldst lay the wicked.
Surely thou wouldst lay the wicked,
O God.
Depart from me, therefore ye bloody men.
Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee?
Am not I free with those that rise up against thee?
Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee?
For they speak against thee wickedly.
And thine enemies stay, thine enemies stay.
Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee?
Am not I free with those that rise up against thee?
Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee?
I hate them with perfect hatred.
I count them thine enemies.
Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee?
Am not I free with those that rise up against thee?
Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee?
Great singing, everybody.
If the offering plates are being passed around, would you please turn your Bibles to Ecclesiastes chapter number nine?
Ecclesiastes chapter number nine.
Ecclesiastes chapter number nine, the Bible reads,
For all this I considered in my heart, even to declare all this, that the righteous and the wise and their works are in the hand of God.
No man knoweth either love or hatred by all that is before them.
All things come alike to all.
There is one event to the righteous and to the wicked, to the good and to the clean and to the unclean,
to him that sacrifices and to him that sacrifices not.
As is the good, so is the sinner, and he that sweareth as he that feareth an oath.
This is an evil among all things that are done under the sun, that there is one event unto all.
Yea, also the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live,
and after that they go to the dead.
For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope, for a living dog is better than a dead lion.
For the living know that they shall die, but the dead know not anything.
Neither have they any more reward, for the memory of them is forgotten.
Also their love and their hatred and their envy is now perished.
Neither have they any more apportion forever in anything that is done under the sun.
Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart,
for God now accepteth thy works.
Let thy garments be always white, and let thy head lack no ointment.
Live joyfully with the wife, whom thou lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity,
which he hath given thee under the sun, all the days of thy vanity,
for that is thy portion in this life, and in thy labor which thou takest under the sun.
Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might,
for there is no work nor device nor knowledge nor wisdom in the grave whither thou goest.
I returned and saw under the sun that the race is not to the swift,
nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise,
nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favor to men of skill,
but time and chance happeneth to them all.
For man also knoweth not his time.
As the fishes that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare,
so are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falleth suddenly upon them.
This wisdom have I seen also under the sun, and it seemed great unto me.
There was a little city and a few men within it, and there came a great king against it,
and besieged it, and built great bulwarks against it.
Now there was found in it a poor wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city,
yet no man remembered that same poor man.
Then said I, Wisdom is better than strength.
Nevertheless the poor man's wisdom is despised, and his words are not heard.
The word of wise men are heard and quiet more than the cry of him that ruleth among fools.
Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one sinner destroyeth much good.
Let us pray. Heavenly Father, Lord, thank you for Ecclesiastes 9.
I just pray that you bless Pastor Shelley and be with him, Lord, fill him with your Holy Spirit,
helping to preach your word unto us, and I pray that you would give us receptive hearts to apply it to our lives.
Praise in Jesus' name. Amen.
Amen. Verse number 1, the Bible says,
For all this I considered in my heart, even to declare all this,
that the righteous and the wise and their works are in the hand of God.
No man knoweth either love or hatred by all that is before them.
All things come alike to all.
There is one event to the righteous and to the wicked,
to the good and to the clean and to the unclean,
to him that sacrificeth and to him that sacrificeth not.
As is the good, so is the sinner,
and he that sweareth as he that feareth an oath.
Now, I want to get to verse 3, too, as well, because it kind of connects this thought,
but the idea that's being brought up here, when it says in verse 2 there is one event,
this is talking about death.
And so the Bible is just saying it doesn't really matter how good you are,
how bad you are, how much you sacrificed, how much you didn't sacrifice.
It doesn't really even matter what happened in your life.
We're all going to die.
And he's basically just bringing up this as being kind of an evil that happens unto all of us.
It says in verse 3,
This is an evil among all things that are done unto the Son,
that there is one event unto all.
Yea, also the heart of the sons of men is full of evil,
and madness is in their heart while they live,
and after that they go to the dead.
And so the Bible is just basically saying we're all going to die
in a dramatic way.
And it's bringing up all kinds of different people and scenarios and situations,
righteous, wicked, clean, unclean,
sacrifices, doesn't sacrifice, good, sinners,
one who swears, and one who fears an oath.
So it gives us kind of like all these different scenarios,
but then it also brings up this concept in verse 3,
Also the heart of the sons of men is full of evil,
and madness is in their heart while they live.
This is kind of corroborated in other passages in the Bible.
You could say in Jeremiah it says,
The heart is deceitful above all things,
and desperately wicked, who can know it?
So according to the Bible,
it's very clear that the heart of man is evil.
And this is more in the context of our flesh.
Of course, when we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and we become saved, we now have the new man,
we have the Spirit, and we have an opportunity to walk in the Spirit,
but when we're in the flesh,
the Bible is clear that our heart is not good,
that our heart is evil.
Let's go to a famous passage, go to Romans chapter number 3,
keep your finger here, go to Romans chapter number 3.
A lot of people would say,
well, just follow your heart, or trust your heart,
but the reality is that the heart of men is evil,
and the heart of man proceeded forth all kinds of things
like adulteries, and heresies, and just carnality,
and strife, and railings, and just all kinds of evil and lies.
This is what the Bible describes.
And it even describes people who don't have God,
what they're like in Romans chapter 3, verse 10,
as it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one.
There is none that understand that there is none that seeketh after God.
So, those who aren't saved, they don't really care about God,
they don't care about the things of God,
and this is pretty evident in the sense that
people that aren't saved pretty much are just not reading the Bible.
Like, they don't read the Bible, and really, how do you seek after God?
It's reading the Bible.
That's how we learn who God is,
that's how we have a relationship with God,
is by reading the Bible, and the more we read the Bible,
the more he communicates to us and talks with us.
Of course, we've also been given the Holy Spirit,
and so the more Bible that we've read and or memorized,
the Holy Spirit can communicate that to us
as we go throughout our day,
as we go throughout moments in our lives,
and he can bring all things to remembrance whatsoever Christ has commanded us.
But those who are unsaved,
the Bible is basically saying they're just not seeking after God at all.
They're not reading the Bible.
They're not interested in the things of God.
Of course, there could be exceptions to this.
I'm just saying, generally speaking,
they don't really know what the Bible says.
When we go out and knock on doors,
and we randomly talk to people,
they aren't familiar with the passages of the Bible.
They aren't familiar with the stories of the Bible.
They aren't familiar with how to be saved.
They're not saying, like,
oh, yeah, I've already read salvation's a free gift by faith.
Yeah, I've already read Romans 4-5.
Yeah, I've already read Ephesians 2-8 and 9.
I mean, you will find this in foreign countries
and the Bible all the way through school.
But, generally speaking, again,
the world is just not seeking after God.
It says they are all going out of the way.
They are together become unprofitable.
There is none that doeth good, no, not one.
Their throat is an open sepulcher.
With their tongues they have used deceit.
The poison of asps is under their lips,
whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.
So, according to the Bible,
when they're not saved, when they just open their mouth,
it's just like a grave.
It's just like a sepulcher.
They just speak things that are just bringing death
and bringing destruction and lies and deceit and poison.
And they curse and they have all this bitterness.
Verse 15, their feet are swift to shed blood.
Destruction and misery are in their ways.
And the way of peace have they not known.
There is no fear of God before their eyes.
And, boy, it just, it's so incredible
that so many people in this world
just have virtually no fear of God.
They just look at the commandments
and they're just meaningless to them.
They don't care whatsoever.
They just live however they want with no recourse,
whereas we should fear God.
We should be afraid of what God will do to us.
And so we need to follow the commandments.
And we need to care what God thinks about us,
not what the world thinks about us,
but what God thinks about us.
Now, go back to Ecclesiastes chapter 9,
because at the end of the day,
we can't always know who's right or wrong
or what everybody's thinking or doing.
And really God looks at the heart,
not on the outward appearance.
And so sometimes things may look a certain way,
but they're not really exactly what's going on.
And that's why Jesus Christ literally said,
Judge not according to appearance,
but judge righteous judgment.
And so when we are judging a situation,
we want to judge it according to the Word of God,
not necessarily what the world thinks
or what other people think
or what the majority thinks or whatever.
We only want to measure our actions
and measure behavior based on the Bible
and on the Word of God.
But we have to understand that men in general are evil.
The Bible says that,
and madness is in their heart while they live.
So man is just crazy.
And I mean, honestly, the world is crazy.
Right now, it is crazy.
And it's getting crazier.
And we're about to have a crazy election.
And the degeneracy in our culture is just rampant.
Churches are getting weird by the second.
People are just losing their mind everywhere.
And honestly, it's just going so quickly.
I mean, some people even think like,
maybe we're headed for the end times pretty soon.
And I don't know.
It could be 100 years.
It could be 50.
It could be five.
I don't know.
But it definitely seems like we're headed
in a really dark direction as a nation,
as a country, as a whole.
Things are getting darker and darker.
And we want to be careful
that we aren't necessarily just following
a multitude to do evil
and that we're not just with everybody
and their craziness.
Hey, I understand.
Like when you read Jeremiah,
he's like the one sane person in the entire nation.
Like the whole nation has just gone berserk and nuts
and they hate everything that he says
and they want to destroy him.
But he's like the only sane person left,
virtually speaking.
And I'm sure there was other people,
but just like for the most part,
he's just trying to proclaim his sanity.
The other prophet, Urijah,
went and hid in Egypt
and gets drug out and gets killed,
which, you know, I'm not mad at him.
I don't blame him.
But unfortunately, you know,
the good men of God are just being destroyed.
You see this with Elijah
where the prophets are all hiding in a cave
because they're just being destroyed
by Jezebel and Ahab
and the men of God are just being wiped out
just one after the next
to where there's virtually just no men of God left
and all you have left is crazy.
All you have is preachers that will lie to you.
All you have is prophets that will deceive you.
All you have is prophets and preachers
that are just a destructive force
and so, you know, you have to be careful
because sometimes there's dark times in the world
where the only preachers and the only people
are kind of crazy.
I mean, look at Hophni and Phinehas.
They're bad and wicked.
And then you basically have the whole house of Eli
being judged and destroyed
and you just have Ichabod
and then you have the Ark of God being taken
and you just have like this super dark period
of Israel's history
and you kind of have to wait for Samuel to be brought up.
But then think about this.
As soon as Samuel's gone,
his sons were evil and wicked and took bribes
and so he literally had no one
to even pass the priesthood down to.
The people reject the priesthood.
They wish for a king and they bring in Saul
and Saul starts out good really
in the face but then ends up not being the same person.
Evil spirits are constantly tormenting him
and he's not really the same guy anymore
and they have some victories.
They still have some prosperity
but they have a lot of problems
and then he even ends up persecuting David
all the way to the bitter end to his own destruction
and we have to understand that if Saul,
I mean, think about this.
There wasn't very many good people.
Saul's the best.
Saul is the absolute greatest guy at the time.
He's anointed king and he's humble in his own sight.
He's little in his own sight
but then even he becomes evil.
Even he becomes wicked.
Even he persecutes David
and goes against the Lord's anointed
and tries to destroy him.
So it's like if Saul can go bad,
I mean, anybody can go bad almost.
You know what I mean?
And we have to just understand that
like this, while there's exceptions,
it's not very many in the sense that man,
the heart of the sons of men is full of evil
and madness is in their heart while they live
but you know what?
Eventually everybody's gonna die
and that's another evil.
Now, I think this is why the Bible's
bringing this up as an evil.
Think about what the Bible says
in I believe in 1 Corinthians chapter 15
that the last enemy is death
and death is an enemy.
Death is a sad reality.
We're all gonna die.
It's all an enemy
and it's an enemy to every single one of us.
Now, of course, the worst part
of the enemy of death
is those who die without Christ
but those of us that have believed
in the Lord Jesus Christ,
oh death, where is thy sting?
Oh grave, where is thy victory?
You know, death is a sweetness
in many cases for the believer
because now, as we were singing,
there's no disappointment in heaven.
There's no more disappointment in heaven.
There's no more heaven issues
and fornication and adultery
and murder and rape
and all these horrible things
that are happening.
There's no more just death
and destruction.
There's no more just constant funeral.
There's no more constant sorrow
and sadness and all the evils
that happen unto all of us.
No, and in fact,
there's no more unsaved people either, okay?
You don't have to deal
with wicked people anymore.
You know, but even on earth,
there's never safety.
Even David had his sons of Belial
always amongst him
and then the sons of Belial were with Saul
and you just always have evil people
mixed in with the good
and you can never really relax here on earth.
You never know what people are like
and it'll really surprise you
but it always surprises me.
Bad people surprise me
because I just,
I think the Bible says
that after all things are pure
and like for me,
like I just always am thinking
like everybody's good-hearted
and everybody's kind
and everybody wants to do the right thing
and everybody's nice
but then it's just like
people aren't like that
and it just always,
it always just surprises me.
It always just shocks me
when you realize like wow,
this person is not good-hearted.
This person is not pure-hearted.
For to him that is joined to all living,
there is hope.
For a living dog
is better than a dead lion.
Now this is kind of a funny verse to me
and I've preached on it in the past
because I preach like a whole sermon
just on the word dog in the Bible
but I mean,
from my understanding,
there's really not a single positive mention
of dogs in the Bible.
Now I'm sorry to break your heart
because I know you probably all love your dog
and your chihuahua and whatever
but I love your dog
as like one of the lowest of the animals.
In fact, the analogy
is kind of almost insinuating
the dog's like the worst
and if you think about it
like the Bible says without our dogs,
okay, you can't bring in the price of a dog
into the house of God
and that is,
the second verse is a sodomite
and like if you think about a dog
like a dog will kind of just eat anything.
It'll eat its own vomit.
It's just kind of like
a restraint.
In fact, you could just give it unlimited food
and it'll just eat until it has a bellyache
or it'll just eat until it can't
even physically eat anymore.
So it's in a sense implacable
and that's the characteristics of a reprobate.
There's someone that's implacable.
They can never be placated.
They can never be appeased.
They'll never be at peace with you.
They're just only going to do evil
and so that's kind of one of the attributes
of someone that is a reprobate
like a dog
with a specific animal, a lion.
Now again,
I don't think that we can say
that every dog is a reprobate though
because when Jesus Christ is talking
with a Samaritan woman
or a Syrophoenician I believe,
she says,
she's like asking for a miracle
and he's like it's not meat
to give the children's bread unto dogs
and so in that context
it was talking about Gentiles.
It wasn't talking about reprobates
but in the Jewish context
and I'm saying this in the Biblical Jewish context
and the Hebrew context
not the false religion of Judaism
but in the time of the Jews
they look down upon Gentiles
as being kind of a subhuman
kind of they're called just sinners
they're just called like they're kind of
a lower grade type of person
and the Bible is just saying that hey
even being kind of the lowest grade
the most humble person
being the most lowly person
that even has committed a lot of sins
or screwed up a lot
or caused problems
even that particular person
is better than the greatest person
if one's alive and the other one's dead.
So just saying like being the most powerful
good-looking, handsome, fun person
that's dead
is not better than the worst person that's alive
and this is also illustrated in the animal kingdom
right the lion's like the greatest animal
it's the top of this apex predator
it's the top of the food chain
but the dead lion is worthless
whereas a living dog
I guess it has some value right
as long as it can bark
you know it barks at the door barks at the enemy
and so what the Bible I think
is trying to illustrate is this
no matter how screwed up your life is
it's always better than being dead
and that's kind of a crazy thing to think about
but like no matter where you find yourself
you have an opportunity to do something
right when you're dead
you literally have lost all opportunity
to serve God it's over
and that's kind of what's being emphasized here
and so just saying like no matter where you find yourself
you should just always be serving God
and you can see this about good men of God
that no matter where they find themselves
they're just kind of happy jovial and serving God
the apostle Paul
thrown into prison for preaching the gospel
well they're singing praises at midnight
and keep people safe
you see Joseph he's thrown in the pit by his brothers
then he's sold into slavery
then he's thrown out of his house
then he's falsely accused
thrown into prison
then he's serving in the prison
then he's elevated to basically the top of the food chain
and all of the kingdom
but the thing about Joseph is he's always working
no matter where he finds himself
and no matter how low he goes
and you know Joseph is an example
of someone that never really made a mistake
but people that even make mistakes
you know I like John Mark
he kind of makes a mistake
and like leaves the ministry for a little bit
but then he comes back
and he's profitable unto the apostle Paul
and so even somebody that maybe
isn't always been on the right track
or gets a little off
or gets a little backslidden
hey you can always get back
you can always go back to church
you can always keep reading your Bible
hey you can always preach the gospel
as long as you're not in solitary confinement
okay then you can pretty much preach
the gospel to somebody right
you can go out there
and you can preach the gospel to your neighbor
to the person down the street
to the soul winning time
hey take a missions trip
and you know some people
they may have even lived a long life
and not even been saved
like I know people they've gotten saved
older in their life
but you know and maybe they even have mistakes
maybe their life's a little screwed up
but you know what you can still serve God
and a living dog is better than a dead lion
you know so it's just basically saying
like no matter how you know
lowly you are as a person
you can always serve God
and that's supposed to be an encouragement to us
that no matter what's going on
make sure that we're serving God
the just man falls seven times
and rises up again
and so we just have to keep serving God
no matter where we find ourselves
verse five for the living knoweth
that they shall die
but the dead know not anything
neither have they anymore a reward
for the memory of them is forgotten
also their love and their hatred
and their envy is now perished
neither have they anymore
a portion forever in anything
that is done under the sun
so the Bible is saying
again it's just hammering this point
hey we're all gonna die
remember we all know that
but people that are dead
they don't even know that
when you die you're gone
and when you're gone you're gone
and he's just saying
hey there's no more reward
this is the only time to get rewards
and it's sad how many people
are giving up on church
giving up on reading the Bible
giving up on preaching the gospel
because you know what
this is your one time to get rewards
and it doesn't matter
where you find yourself
what's going on and look
the world's waxing
it's been waxing a little worse
maybe it's gonna wax better
in the next few years
maybe it'll get better
but it could keep getting worse too
every time I think about the past
and maybe this is me personally
but in the last 10-15 years
every year in the past
was kind of in my mind
better than the year after it
and I'm like
man I just don't feel like
I enjoyed that part of my life
as much as I should have
you know what I mean?
I probably could have even gotten more rewards too
I probably could have done a little bit more for God
and I think that sometimes
we should reflect on the past
to then motivate us to do the right thing
in the present
and to think you know what?
I can't change that
I can't change the past but I can do stuff now
so why don't I work on rewards now
because pretty soon
even who I am and everything about me
is gonna be gone
no one will remember
it's all gonna be forgotten
anymore
you know
this is my time to love
this is my time to love my wife
this is the time for me to love my children
this is my time to love my church
this is my time to love the lost
and when I'm dead
I can't love y'all anymore
obviously in heaven we get it
I'm just saying under the sun in this context
I also can't hate anything anymore
you know I can't hate
wicked evil reprobates anymore
I can't hate sodomites anymore
I can't hate them
you know there's a time to love
and a time to hate
now envy is not a good attribute
okay but obviously
it's just saying like even the bad emotions
people can't even do this anymore
it's perished
and nothing will ever happen again
I think again
why do we need these verses
because some people are just
they're just kind of drifting their lives away
I mean why is the book of Ecclesiastes even here
oh vanity of vanities
all is vanity
I mean it's just
you know we kind of
we kind of put so much importance
on so many things that have literally
no impact on anything
we're just so concerned
and so consumed
with things that literally
don't even matter
who you all are
who you are
where you are in life
what relationships you have
and of course this generation
in this world right now
is obsessed with things online
they're obsessed with social media
they're obsessed with status
they're obsessed with who knows them
they're obsessed with just
all of this stuff
that is literally meaningless
it's meaningless
and let me tell you something
online is fake folks
most of the people online
are fake
they're fake and phonies and flatterers
that's maybe a sermon for you alright
fakes phonies and flatterers
and I'll tell you what
you know who really matters
the people that you have in your life
you need a love on your wives
and your children and the people that you have
let's keep reading because it brings us up
verse 7 go thy way eat thy bread with joy
and drink thy wine with a merry heart
for God now accepted thy works
thy garments be always white
and let thy head lack no ointment
live joyfully with the wife
whom thou loveth all the days
of the life of thy vanity
which you have given thee under the sun
all the days of thy vanity
for that is thy portion in this life
and in thy labor which thou takest
under the sun
and you know I say this a lot
but I keep I want to tell it again
but I just remember when I was young
I was always taught the preacher
okay and it was just it means
like almost every sermon
just like Jesus could come
before the end of this sermon
and I just I'll be honest with you
it made me nervous as a young person
okay and so I just always prayed
I just prayed like God
will you just please let me get married
I just wanted to be married
because I grew up
I grew up in a family
where we were really close
and all of my siblings were married
and they seemed like they just had
and there was that special companionship
there was that special camaraderie
there was that unique love
and affection that they had
and I didn't have that
and I just desired that so much
and I just really wanted to have a wife
and you know what God has blessed me
with the greatest wife ever
and you know frankly speaking
I don't appreciate that as much as I should
and I think that we all feel that way
I think that we all if we were to be honest
we probably don't appreciate our spouse
as much as we should
and did you notice what it even said here
it said specifically
that we should be joyfully
or live joyfully with the wife whom they love us
all the days of the life of thy vanity
I mean how many days
and let's just be honest all of us okay
how many days have we wasted
being mad at our spouse the whole day
how many days have we wasted
just in petty arguments
petty beefs
petty issues
and it's like this is someone
that you dedicated your life to
to being married to
you know we need to have
a sense of humility
in our relationships
and taking ownership for our actions
and trying to have as much joy
and love as we can in our relationships
because we never know
if we're gonna live tomorrow
we could literally I could die tomorrow
just completely unexpectedly
just one day here
brain aneurysm the next
you know one of my grandfathers Jack
Jack Moser was my grandfather
and it's really sad
I never met him
my mom was like 20
and just one night heart attack gone
and he's pretty young
I don't remember the exact age
if I said something it wouldn't be true
but probably 40s or something like that
she was the oldest my mom was the oldest
I think she was able to be brought in
just for the last few moments of his life
but basically
just right there in the bedroom
heart attack gone
and you know what you just never know
you just never know
and so it's important to live joyfully
with your wife every single day
and taking advantage
of all the opportunity that you have
and I think that God
doesn't want us to know
when we're gonna die
so that we'll enjoy our days
and I just say this because
like anytime I have to go on a trip
or anytime I'm about to leave
it's like instead of me and my wife
enjoying the hour or day that we get
before I have to leave
it's like it's just like thinking about
well but you're gonna leave
or something you know
and it's like you don't get to enjoy
the time you have because you're just
thinking about when you're not gonna be together
but here's the thing
we shouldn't worry about
what we can't change
right now in the present
let's just have fun
let's enjoy each other
let's have whatever love
and affection we can
because we can't affect tomorrow anyways
we can't affect the future
we don't know what's gonna happen
no one knows what's gonna happen
this is our one time
that's why he's saying
there's a one event that's gonna happen
you're gonna die eventually
so you might as well enjoy your spouse
as much right now
have joy
you know if you can have a good meal
have a good meal now
have a good drink now
enjoy your kids
enjoy your family
you know one day your kids are gonna move out
and you know they probably won't talk to you that much
I'm not trying to be mean
but let's ask you
how many times do you call your parents
and you're like oh man
you know
yeah so pretty
this is the time to enjoy your children
they're like rats you know
or like they're kind of jerks or whatever
it's like okay but you know what
enjoy it
enjoy the good and the bad
the fun
take time now to enjoy what you have
and God gave us this
you know
don't just live this aesthetic lifestyle
where
you just can't have pleasure
you can't have fun
you can't have joy
you know that's not the Bible
that we should just constantly
just be plaguing ourselves
or having no joy
or not taking pleasure
in the things that we have
but rather we should enjoy what we have right now
now Proverbs chapter 5
also brings this idea up in verse 18
it says let thy fountain be blessed
and rejoice
with the wife of thy youth
you only get to be young once
and you only get to be newlyweds once
and you only get to be young once
and it was funny because me and my wife
were kind of laughing about this
at dinner I think last night
and we were just thinking about
like wouldn't it be so much fun
if you and me
could just go on a trip right now
without kids
and it's kind of because like
I don't know why but like we've tried to go
on like an anniversary trip
so many times and it's just failed
so many times
like we haven't been on a trip in forever
and it's been really hard
we were just kind of like laugh crying
about the fact that it's like
it's like wouldn't it be so much fun
if we could just go on a trip right now
without kids
and like our first five years of marriage
we didn't have any children
and we were just kind of like looking at each other
like what did we do
we were like we did not enjoy
that part of a relationship
as much as we should have
we should have enjoyed that so much more
and this is what I said
I said well you know what
in 20 years from now or 15 years from now
I'm gonna think like we weren't enjoying now
as much as we should have
and so I can't fix that
but you know what I can do
is I can try to enjoy her down more
and I can try to think about that
and you know my life's really busy
and I've got all kinds of crazy things
going on all the time
and I've really unfortunately
probably put my family on the back burner
a little bit with a lot of the stuff that we've done
but at the same time
like I need to also challenge myself
and my kids and enjoy
and put more effort and energy into them
and I think that we all
can do that more
this is what the Bible's telling us
go back if you would to Ecclesiastes chapter 9
let us enjoy the things that God has given us now
because pretty soon we'll be dead
and it won't matter
you know why you should enjoy your wife now
because in heaven she's gonna be your sister
and we don't like our sisters
as much as we like our wives
okay now I'm not against any of you sisters in here
but I don't like you anywhere near
as I like my wife okay
and so you know and when we're in heaven
I'll give my wife my sister
a high five and stuff
but you know we won't be married anymore
so she always says this
she's like always wave at you from upper heaven
that's what she always tells me so
I'll appreciate that or whatever
maybe I'll get to go visit her once more right
it says in verse 10
whatsoever thy hand findeth the dude
do it with thy might
for there is no work
nor device nor knowledge
nor wisdom in the grave
whither thou goest
hey whatever you have to do
just do it the best that you can
and pretty soon
your hand won't even work anymore
you know it's just like
this is your time to do it
this is your time to put in the effort
this is your time to do a good job
and whatever you get to do
just do a really good job
and pretty soon there won't be any work anymore
I mean it will work till Jesus comes
and you know I'm not saying
that there isn't work in heaven in a sense
because we're still going to be serving
the Lord Jesus Christ and everything like that
but from a perspective of like
earning wages and reward
the Bible is pretty clear like
this is our time to earn
this is our time to work
this is our time to do stuff
this is our time to go soul winning
hey this is the time to go soul winning
you're not under threat of heavy persecution
this is the time to go to church
when church is even open
I mean there are places in this world
like China and other parts of this world
where going to church
is a threat to your life
there are places like Germany
where going to church
the government is going to monitor
you even showing up at church
I mean you think that going to church
is hard right now
you have no idea
think about what the Bible says about
some churches where he says
hey the devil is going to cast
some of you into prison
what if I said hey I have a sober message
God gave me a message
you'd be like well you're a Pentecostal
I'm leaving but just for sake of argument
just assume that God actually did
literally give me a message to deliver you
and I said hey guys here's a letter
we got it from Jesus Christ
and he says some of you guys
are going to prison
be thou faithful unto death
who's coming to service Sunday morning
you know it's like
whoa that ramped up
and you know this church is a church
that's resilient
raise God for steadfast Baptist Church
people that just say you know what
we're going to be steadfast
we're going to be unmovable
we're always going to bow in the work of the Lord
you know because we've gone through
a lot of adversity
and unfortunately it's never going to cease
it's never going to give up entirely
there's going to be adversity
hatred
lies
slander
all kinds of horrible things
are going to be constantly coming towards
any church that's trying to serve God effectively
I mean you could go to the most liberal church
and they'll have people lie
and cheat and steal
and do all kinds of different crazy things to them
and you know you just need to go to church
you know you're never going to find a church
that is just a perfect reputation
five stars all across the board
and then they're just hardcore serving the Lord either
you know
and again some people want to go to those churches
have fun
but you know if you want to be on the front lines
you know sometimes it gets messy
sometimes it gets a little bit gritty every once in a while
but at the end of the day
you know this is the one time to work
there's no more device
there's no more knowledge
there's no more wisdom
there's no more grave
in the grave
hey you can't even learn anymore
no more sermons
I return us all to the sun
that the race is not to the swift
nor the battle of the strong
neither yet bred to the wise
nor yet riches to the men of understanding
nor yet favor to men of skill
but time and chance happeneth
to them all
this is kind of an interesting verse
and I think it kind of parallels well
with the book of Job
in the sense that Job's three friends
they kind of have this doctrine
that well if you're godly
only good things will happen
to you
and if you're wicked
god's going to basically destroy you
and horrible things are going to constantly happen to you
but then the bible
has Job constantly rebuking them
and saying things like
well then why are the wicked constantly having
all this good stuff happen to them
like how does that make any sense
and you know how to
I mean think about our congress
our congress is filled with some really bad people
and they're old
I mean they're old and rich
I mean they're like the rich man
that fared sumptuously every single day
I mean think about it
the rich man fared sumptuously every single day
until he lifted up his eyes in hell
the bible does not teach this doctrine
of well if you're righteous
everything good
only good's going to happen to you
or something like that
I mean show me that guy in the bible even
who's the guy where it's just only good
it's just a half
it's just a Sunday after Sunday
he's eating ice cream
and cups and candy and only good
and only favor and only blessing
seems like everybody that's good in the bible
is heavily chastised
persecuted lied about
thrown in prison
I mean all kinds of horrible things are happening to them right
killed slaughtered
destroyed put in the stocks
thrown in the dung pit
I mean beaten
I mean have you read the hall of faith
it's just like oh man
not accepting deliverance
that they may obtain a better resurrection
saying hey you know what
if you're going to lie about me
just keep on going
just pour it all on right
it's funny
this is what I have thought about
it's like the older I get
the less death is scary
and if you read
there's a book called the foxes book of martyrs
has anybody read that
or at least a little bit of it
if you just kind of read the first part
it's kind of interesting because it just talks about
the early apostles
talking about how they're like you know
90 or 80 I mean they're old
and they would be arrested
and like they're going to execute them
or they're going to torture them to death
or something like this
and then they would be like afraid to do it
and they'd be like no
and then the guys are like no you're going to do it
like I want to die the martyrs death or whatever
because you know when you're 85 or something
you know you're like 90 you're just like
I'm going to die pretty soon anyways
so I might as well just go out with a bang
you know what I mean
I think there's like a whole movie about this
it's like Tommy Lee Jones or something
I don't know you can go watch it
but I don't know if I recommend it actually
but I don't even know what's in it
but there's this idea of like
this guy has terminal cancer
and he's just kind of like you know whatever
like I'm going to go out with a bang protecting my son
or something like that
it's just like hey I kind of get that
and the reality is though
that some people that are old are wicked
and some people that are young
that die young are good
I mean what did it say
the race is not to the swift
the best guy doesn't always win
nor the battle of the strong
the strongest guy the best warrior
doesn't always win
bread to the wise
the person that's the smartest person
doesn't always have money
doesn't always have a good meal
riches are not always the people
that are actually wise and understanding
I mean in fact in our culture
it's like the dumbest people many times
have a lot of money
they get it they get the riches
but then they fly they they grow wings
and fly away
nor favor to men of skill
but time and chance happeneth to
them all
verse 12 for man also knows not his time
as the fishes that are taken in an evil net
and as the birds that are caught in the snare
so are the sons of men snared in an evil time
when it falls suddenly upon them
you know you just
you could just be doing right
serving God
and the evil net comes out of nowhere
I mean he's kind of painting this picture
you know fish they're just doing the little fish thing
and then just all of a sudden just a net out of nowhere
and they're just taken in the net
just destroyed just out of nowhere just obliterated
and that just happens in the world
where people are just living their life
and just BAM you just don't even know
you're just taken you're just caught in the snare
and you're just caught in evil time
and it sometimes just happens suddenly
keep your finger and go to Proverbs chapter 29
go to Proverbs chapter 29
now I think the Bible does teach some balance here
to what I'm talking about
I don't think the Bible is just saying
everything's luck
or everything's time and chance
because then you would have to discount like
a large portion of the Bible that's making it clear
like that when you're righteous
it's going to go well with you
and that when you're wicked God's going to
the way of transgressors is hard
so I think the Bible just basically says
like hey for 60-70% of people
all of that's going to be the case
you're righteous it goes well you live long
it's good if you're wicked you die young or whatever
but there's probably some and I'm just throwing out numbers
but there's probably some percentage of like
15-20-30% that are an exception
where they are good and righteous
and they just die young
or they get persecuted wrongfully
and horrible things happen to them
and then there's going to be
a handful of wicked people that
end up making it to the end and survive
and I mean we have a lot of older people
that are pretty wicked
I mean it's not like it's this small tiny sliver
of our human population that's old and wicked
I mean there's a lot of old wicked people
so you have to admit like
some decent sized percentage of people
and look there's plenty of young people
that are constantly dying and being killed
I mean young girls that seem to be
I mean not necessarily the most godly
but they're not like bad people or whatever
just getting taken advantage of, killed
picked up by a hitchhiker
what all kinds of weird stuff happens
and it's just like that doesn't seem right
how about kids that are killed in school shootings
or all kinds of bombings that happen all over the world
military excavations and bombings
and horrible things that are happening all over
Ukraine, Middle East, Turkey, Syria
and I don't even know in these communist nations
North Korea, China
I'm sure there's all kinds of genocides
and horrible things
and in Africa no one knows
because they don't even have a phone or internet
I don't know
but think about it
I mean you're just in the tribe
just whatever and then a tribe comes through
and then they just massacre the tribe
take their goods
it could just happen in the night
Proverbs 29 verse 6 says this
in the transgression of an evil man there is a snare
but the righteous does sing and rejoice
notice this also that
the transgression of an evil man there's a snare
there's a trap
if you go back to the verse that we're looking at
in verse number 12
and it says as the birds that are caught in the snare
so are the sons of men snared in evil time
evil men are constantly setting traps
they're constantly setting snares
and you know good people fall into their snares
good people fall into their traps
and sometimes it destroys them
sometimes they're delivered
we don't know
we don't know what's happening
but I'll tell you this
there is a lot of evil people setting a lot of evil traps out there
traps like alcohol
traps like fornication
traps I mean the Bible talks about in Proverbs 5, 6 and 7
the whorish woman who's constantly on every street corner
setting a snare and a trap for young men
and there are a snare and a trap
at all kinds of bars
and all kinds of adult places that you can go to
where young men should just stay far away from the bar
should just stay far away from these ungodly institutions
should stay far away from the whorish woman
which is a snare and is a trap
where there's all kinds of other snares and traps out there
financial snares
where people want to sell you a timeshare
don't buy a timeshare
dude I can't even tell you
how I know people personally that have bought them
and I'm just flabbergasted
I'm just thinking like
what do you mean you bought a timeshare
and they're like
I don't have a timeshare
we bought two
what?
no
why?
I mean it's just a trap
you go to the used car dealership
and I'm not saying all of them
but I'm saying sometimes there's a lot of traps there
lending institutions
there's all kinds of traps there
lawyers traps
doctors traps
contractors traps
okay
I mean just even the plumber
even the electrician
even just everywhere
there's just all these traps
how about how many churches are just a literal trap
the venus fly trap
just come on in
and I'm just going to trap you with heresy
false doctrine
all kinds of different traps that exist
there's just so much evil
and we have to be careful because
honestly
even if you're following the bible perfectly
and of course when you are following the bible
you're going to avoid a lot of traps
it's the light unto our path
it's the lamp unto our feet
it's going to guide us in a very very very dark world
where there's land mines everywhere
and so we have to be very careful
what decisions that we make
it says in verse number 13
this wisdom have I seen also under the sun
and it seemed great unto me
there was a little city
and a few men within it
and there came a great king against it
who built great bulwarks against it
neither was found in it a poor wise man
and he by his wisdom
delivered the city
yet no man remembered that same poor man
then said I
wisdom is better than strength
nevertheless the poor man's wisdom is despised
and his words are not heard
the words of wise men are heard in quiet
more than the cry of him that ruleth among fools
so the bible says
wisdom is better than physical strength
and there's a famous movie
I think a lot of people have seen
like The Princess Bride
who's ever seen that movie
yeah a lot of people have seen that movie
it kind of has an example of this
at one part of the film
where the main protagonist is outsmarting
or outwitting somebody that has more strength than them
showing that wisdom is actually better
in some cases than physical strength
how about David and Goliath
how about David?
he's a better warrior than David
he's more experienced
he's stronger
but David outwits him
by using a slingshot
you don't bring a knife to a gunfight
and you know what?
David brought the gun
Goliath had his spear
had his sword
and he just stayed far away from giants
and he just kind of shoot from afar
and he slaughtered him with the rock
he trusted in the Lord
and a lot of the people
were scared of that Goliath
a lot of people were afraid to fight
that particular Goliath
that particular giant
but we have to trust in the Lord
and we trust in wisdom
there's going to be battles out there
where people are literally stronger than us
people may even be smarter carnally than us
they may have more money than us
they may have more in number than us
but the wisdom of God
can allow us to have the victory
hey there's this city
they're grounded
they're going to be destroyed
but you know what's better than fighting them
is wisdom
and you know what?
sometimes it's not even just you outsmarting them
it's just trusting in the Lord
and allowing him to deliver you
there's a lot of places in the Bible
where wisdom didn't help
where strength didn't help
God helped
how about when they were up against the Red Sea?
they're doomed
Egypt has weapons
it's going to be a great slaughter
but then God opens up the Red Sea
and just allows them to just walk on
dry ground
and you know what?
sometimes in our lives we need miracles
I feel like God's given our church
several of these miracles
throughout our history
and we have to embrace the fact that God
ultimately is the one that wants the glory anyways
so it's not even necessarily us
being so smart and so wise
outsmarting the enemy
and out deceiving them or something
but we have to trust the Lord
and allow him to work
and allow him to do his thing
and allow him to take care of situations
and not for us to figure out
how to fix it ourselves
now this last verse it says this
well I want to say one more thing
on verse 17
the words of the wise men are heard in quiet
you know
you shouldn't necessarily always go
to the church that's the biggest
sometimes even a smaller church
is a really good church
the sizes of church
church sizes doesn't really matter
but at the end of the day
generally speaking
the wisdom of God
is not going to be very popular
now that doesn't
that's not to say that big churches are bad
it's not to say that little churches are bad
but in general
we're probably going to have to find someone
in a smaller group
that's going to have the great wisdom of God
and it's not going to be
on TV probably
in some coliseum
some stadium
you know it's not like hey
if Pastor Shelley rented out AT&T Stadium
we'd fill it up or something
you know we might have
300 or something
we might have 400 or something
you know if everyone from our church shows up
but you're not going to fill it up
with 80,000 or 100,000 people
you know and yet
Beyonce will come or something
some singer will come
and they'll fill it up
but there's no wisdom there
there's no there's no understanding
of the things of God
there's nothing that's even going to bless the people
yeah they might sing and yell
and have a good time for a few minutes
but it's all vanity
and you know the thing about church
is it actually can make you better
by getting wisdom
learning more what the scripture says
and even if you don't even get that much wisdom
out of a sermon
you at least were there to praise God a little bit
you were there to just draw closer to the Lord
and that had some verses in it
and you know what I've noticed is a lot of people
they get a lot out of preaching
that's not even what's said
like somehow just verses
they're just like seeing the verse
and then the Holy Ghost is just making application for them
and it's like I didn't even say anything
I'm not it wasn't about me
it was just about verses being read out loud
and you know that's really powerful
and so it's important to go to church
I remember even going to churches
that I thought were kind of like so-so
not really getting that much out of the preaching
but what I said in the sermon just really
you know sparked this thought for me
and they made a change for me
and I'm thinking like great you know
I'm like wow I'm glad that we were there then
you know I'm glad that we at least went to church
and we were getting provoked by the Word of God
verse 18 wisdom is better than weapons of war
but one sinner destroyeth much good
so unfortunately building things
creating things
establishing things can take a lot of time
take a lot of effort
take a lot of energy
but boy it just takes almost nothing to destroy things
in fact it could take a great army of people to build something
and it just takes one or two guys with box cutters
to just take it down
just like that
right I mean just think just think about how many people
and how many engineers
and how many construction workers
and just like that a little jet fuel
just took it all down right
it was not a controlled demolition
but even if it was a controlled demolition
just think about how in almost an instant
I mean building seven
not struck by an airplane
no obvious reason why it would have a structural integrity issue
fell in seven seconds flat folks
I mean how long do you think it took to construct building seven
I mean I guarantee that took years of planning
years of material purchasing
years of construction
years of decorating
years of remodeling
I mean we're just talking about thousands
maybe tens of thousands of people involved in this building
and in just seven seconds it's just gone
just like that
and this can happen in our personal lives
this can happen anywhere
where someone builds some great thing
how about like Jack Hyles built this great church
First Baptist Church of Hammond, Indiana
and then it just takes one Jack Scott to just ruin all of it
now obviously it didn't ruin it
obviously it's still a good church
it still has a good pastor
I'm for that church
but boy he definitely put a big dent in it
and again what does it say
one center destroyeth much good
sometimes it's not a full destruction
like building seven
sometimes it's just a big dent
okay sometimes it's just a big gash into something
and you know there's always going to be
sinners
we're all sinners
there's always going to be people that make mistakes
disappoint cause problems
but boy how much destruction sin brings into the world
you know you could you could live your whole life
and have such a great marriage
and then just one night of adultery could just ruin all of it
and you know you could just live your whole life
and be doing a lot of great things
and then get drunk
one night drive home
and kill somebody or kill yourself
in a drunk driving accident
think about how many people have been killed
in a drunk driving accident that weren't
in the vehicle with the drunk driver
they were just simply just driving home
maybe even from church
maybe even from the restaurant
maybe from soccer practice
maybe from the hospital
they're just driving down the road
and then just someone just comes out of nowhere
and just destroys people
just destroys their lives
and now just like one sinner destroyeth much good
and you know this just exists everywhere
in society
where sin is just destructive
and now even a singular individual
can just be such a destructive force
the devil comes but to steal, kill and destroy
and that's why we have to be careful
we have to be careful with ourselves
we have to be careful with the people
that we allow into our lives
and unfortunately the reality is
that there's gonna be times
when a sinner just destroys a bunch of stuff
and think about this
the devil was not content
going to hell by himself
the devil wanted to drag
as many people down with him as possible
and there's a lot of people
that are evil and wicked and satanic
and they are not content
just destroying themselves
they want to drag as many people down
with them as possible
I also have noticed this
and this is kind of frustrating
is when sometimes when people
they get a little backslidden
or disgruntled or offended
just insert whatever
just insert whatever reason
and they leave a church
they can't seem to just leave it quietly
what they have to do is
they kind of feel bad about it
and so they have to justify it
by trashing the church
or trashing the people at the church
or trashing the pastor
or trashing the program
or trashing something about it
and it's not even that it's really that true
it's just that that person
feel better about the fact
that they either left church
or quit church or going to a lame church
or whatever and so they just have to
kind of just trash
everything about it
so that they feel better
about the fact that they left
or that they are no longer there
or different or whatever
because in their mind
while they would never admit this
they kind of know that they probably
didn't do something right
or they're probably not making
every action that they make
even when it's wrong
they're always going to have an excuse
they're always going to have some reason
why they did something
but instead of just taking accountability
they basically project on everybody else
and it's their fault, right
I'm a bad wife or bad husband
because you're a bad spouse
it's not that they're a bad person
it's not like they made a mistake
it's just you screwed up, you did this
and this is what you'll notice
when people do something wrong
they're just projecting
whatever the other person did
as a distraction
to try and take away from
whatever decisions they made
or what's actually going on
and evil wicked people
they'll just constantly focus in on distraction
away from what's really going on
or what the real issue is
and they just change the narrative
they just lie
and just make things up
and it's like one person leaves a church
okay, but it never seems like
especially in our style of church
that that happens
they have to drag as many people out with them
as they can, right
they want to tear other people down with them
and they want to destroy much good
it's like, look
there's nothing wrong with going to another church
but why do you have to tear down a church
like it just doesn't really make that much sense
you know, obviously we should try to
do good unto people
do good unto Christians
try to help
now look, when someone's a raging heretic
or, yeah
they need to be exposed
problems need to be dealt with
you know, we want to get things correct
but you know, when you have a good church
you want to make sure
that you're not just trying to tear everybody down
I've had people contact me
and say like, hey, I'm kind of upset
about this situation or this pastor
and I'm always just like, well, why don't you
give them grace, go talk to them, try to fix it
you know, we shouldn't be like, yeah
tear it down, yeah, whatever
you know
a lot of people are going to do that
and unfortunately one sinner is going to
destroy much good
because often misery loves company
misery loves company
and you know what, we shouldn't drag
other people down with us
you know, we should not allow people
to be suffering
you know, as a husband it's important
that you're not dragging your wife down with you
if she wants to go to church
and you don't, let her go to church
I mean, hey
if you're the wife
let him go to church
let your kids go to church
let your kids read the Bible
go soul winning
don't drag them down
don't try to stop them from doing things
just because you don't want to do them
we need to encourage people to do the right thing
and if we're the one that's backslidden
hey, let's fix it
let's not just keep causing more problems
and more destruction and whatever
because ultimately at the end of the day
there's already enough to survive
the destructive forces in this world
let us be ones that are edifying
and building up
and doing good and doing right
let's close in prayer
thank you Heavenly Father so much for this book
and for the wisdom that you've given us
I pray that you would just help our church
to be a bright and shining light
in such a dark world
and that we would continue to grow in wisdom
grow in grace
that we would enjoy the wives
and the children that you've given us
that we would make sure that we recognize
that this is our one time
to do the works
and that you would motivate us
to have a good attitude every single day
in Jesus' name we pray, Amen
Amen
Alright, for our last song
we're going to go to song number 134
my anchor holds
song 134
my anchor holds
song 134
my anchor holds
song 134
my anchor holds
let's sing it out nice and loud
on the first
though the angry surges roll
on my tempest driven soul
I am peaceful for I know
and wildly though the winds may blow
I'm an anchor safe and sure
that can and wherefore endure
and it holds my anchor holds
though you're wildest then
I'll give you the Geronimo
and the
I'm an anchor safe and sure
By his grace I shall not fail, for my anchor holds, my anchor holds.
Mining ties around me swing, perils burn within the deep.
Angry clouds or shade the sky, and the tempest rises high.
Still I stand the tempest shot, for my anchor grips the rock.
And it holds, my anchor holds, though your wildness then will give.
On my barks so small and frail, by his grace I shall not fail, for my anchor holds, my anchor holds.
I can feel the anchor fast, as I meet each sudden blast.
And the cable row of sea, bears the heavy strain between.
Through the storm I safely run, till the turning of the tide.
And it holds, my anchor holds, though your wildness then will give.
On my barks so small and frail, by his grace I shall not fail, for my anchor holds, my anchor holds.
On the last troubles holds, without a soul, creaks like billows o'er me roll.
Tempers seek to lure astray, storms obscure the light of day.
But in Christ I can be bold, I'm an anchor that shall hold.
And it holds, my anchor holds, though your wildness then will give.
On my barks so small and frail, by his grace I shall not fail, for my anchor holds, my anchor holds.
Great singing everybody, you are all dismissed.